The fragrances of the 'Trilogy of the Huméur' have been around before, six years ago. At that time they were offered in an especially limited edition, just 100 bottles per fragrance. Small painted porcelain amphorae, modelled on old pharmacist's containers, held 40ml of each of the extras. There was also a pipette for drizzling them on, because the fragrances were not to be sprayed, not even dabbed, no, they were to be drizzled like medicines
Medicines in general: based on the four-juices theory (French: 'Théorie des Humeurs') of Hippocrates, the fragrance trio was said to contribute to harmonize said juices. Lacrima (water of the eyes) helps to fight heartache and sadness, Melancolia (water of the spirit) declares war on melancholy and bad mood, and Phantasma (water of the lips) inspires secret fantasies and erotic spirits.
As far as the theory, or marketing bling bling, if it helps in practice, everyone may find out for themselves. It's just the usual blah-blah, which is supposed to make fragrances more interesting, but in this case it's even quite original, even if probably pretty crappy
Anyway, the scents would not need such a swirl, they are really good!
The oh-so limited edition is thankfully a thing of the past and the fragrances are now available in some places, although not everywhere. However, no longer in the pretty little amphorae that looked like little cider pitcher (the only thing missing was the handle...), but in plain blue glass bottles. I find blue as a bottle color rather difficult, since these bottles mostly contain aquatic-ozonic fougères - fragrances that don't appeal to me at all. But in the case of the 'Humeurs' this fear is completely unfounded.
I don't regret that the 40ml of extracts have been diluted to 100ml of eau de parfum, as I have a little trouble with extracts anyway: I prefer to spray rather than dab - not to mention drip...
When I tested 'Phantasma' for the first time I was somewhat irritated. Lacrima' and 'Melancolia' correspond to the information about the ingredients used, but 'Phantasma' smells completely different - at least in my opinion. No trace of yuzu, rice powder and ginger. Tea, juniper and woods, maybe, but above all a strong floral accord rose into my nose, with a light indolence typical for white flowers. In addition, there was a clearly green-spicy aroma, which reminded me less of juniper. The saleswoman also answered my question in the affirmative, whether she would also smell flowers, but bravely stayed with Yuzu, rice powder and co.
Arriving at home I did some more research and discovered a review of 'Phantasma' in the fragrance diary of ALZD. And here, too, there is talk of ginger spiciness, citrus freshness, Asian hesperides, powdery rice notes, even rice pudding - but nothing like that on my arm, nada!
On a French site called 'Osmoz' I finally found 6 years old information about the fragrance, which was much closer to my impressions. The fragrance is called 'Floral-Green' and the following notes are mentioned:
Top Notes : Green Notes
Heart Notes : Narcissus, Clary Sage
Base Notes : Woody Notes, Hazelnut
Et voilà, I knew it: the flower chord is really overly clear!
I found the sage just as understandable, especially when I sprayed the scent on myself again: there it was again, the urine-like moment so typical for this herb. Yes, it suddenly smelled quite pissed off, quite at the beginning of the fragrance, but then fortunately it disappeared quite quickly. Together with the narcissus indolic, this urine penetrance unfolds a rather repulsive effect, which - as I said - blows over quite soon. The indolic, however, remains, albeit subtly.
Later, a woody aroma develops more and more, interspersed with a light gourmand touch, which is apparently due to the hazelnut. The more the narcissus withers, the more the nut moves to the centre. But please do not imagine a nougat-sweet hazelnut. No, this nut is absolutely unsweet, and surrounded by the scent of the woody shells.
All in all, the scent changes from green-aromatic to floral-indolic to nutty-woody and thus lays down an interesting course, which I cannot follow completely relaxed. My relationship to floral indolic, especially as a man, has not yet been finally clarified (and maybe never will), and if other imponderables like the urinary facet mentioned above and a not so easy gourmand aspect are added, I'm more inclined in the long run to leave the scent to all those who don't have any problems with it - which finally led me to 'Lacrima' and 'Melancolia', because I can enjoy these two in a relaxed way. But more about that elsewhere.
Whether 'phantasm' inspires erotic spirits or secret fantasies, let's face it. Not for me, anyway
A beautiful and above all interesting fragrance, it is always, with great, but not exaggerated durability and rather moderate projection - just how I like it.
I also find the manageable number of notes pleasant for all 'humeurs', as they form a clear contrast to the overload of one or the other liquid scent. With fewer notes, however, the perfumer must work more precisely, blend and calibrate more precisely.
Exactly this care distinguishes the three 'Humeurs'.
Black tea
Rice powder
Yuzu
Ginger
Canary Islands juniper
Woods
OPomone
Fragranciska
Shojoid
Saradonin
Ebichuunee
